Nobody won in the confrontation between the government and Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) even if the home-grown Christian sect claimed victory after it ended its five-day protest action against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
The government refuses to divulge what transpired during its talks with INC, but it certainly would not have fed De Lima to the lions.
I take back what I said in Tuesday’s column about the government possibly giving in to INC’s demand that De Lima resign.
It is not in the character of President Noynoy to sack subordinates even if they are utterly corrupt. And in the case of De Lima, she was just upholding the rule of law.
The government was bargaining from a position of strength: Its stand was backed by the majority of the Filipinos who were pissed off by the spoiled-brat attitude and tantrum of the church.
The INC’s claim of victory is hollow since it could not even produce 100,000 followers at the Edsa-Shaw intersection, the site of the mass action, when the leadership had called for at least one million of its faithful.
Its vaunted show of force turned out to be a display of weakness.
One is reminded of a military strategy mentioned in the book “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu, a Chinese general: If you’re weak, pretend you’re strong; if you’re strong, pretend you’re weak.
Certainly, the government was not weak—it was just indulging INC.
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The biggest loser in the government-INC confrontation was Sen. Grace Poe, who is ahead in the surveys of possible presidential candidates.
Poe’s pandering to INC incurred the ire of the majority of the population.
She showed how shallow her intellect is when she implied that the government was persecuting INC for its beliefs when the issue was not about religion but the rule of law.
Intellectuals and even those as shallow as she is have changed their minds about voting for the daughter of “Panday” if she runs for president in 2016.
The other heavy losers are Sen. Chiz Escudero and Vice President Jojo Binay.
Escudero, supposedly a lawyer like Binay, has been exposed as a sycophant—sipsip in street lingo—to whoever can make him rise to a higher office.
With this side of him exposed, his chances of becoming vice president are very slim.
Binay? Oh, it’s not surprising if he pandered to INC. He is obviously courting the religious sect whose members vote as one during elections.
The rumors was that Binay even provided transportation to INC members going to the Edsa-Shaw intersection.
He is the quintessential traditional politician or “trapo”; trapo, as in rug or floor mat.
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Those Manila policemen who arrested Michael Hingpit for being a homosexual with a boyfriend, must be sick in the head.
They should be made to see a shrink or confined in an asylum because they might infect fellow cops with their illness.
After they divested Michael of his cell phone and P5,500 in cash, they beat him up when he pleaded with them to return his phone and money.
Not contented with punching, kicking and poking a gun at Michael, who was handcuffed all this time, the cops tried to force the poor guy to do a sexual act with his boyfriend with them as spectators.
Michael stood his ground and refused to do their bidding.
I’m a jaded journalist, having covered the police beat for years. But I almost threw up as I was listening to Michael narrate his experience with the beastly cops.